Just installed an NEC ND 3520 drive....
This is my first DVD writer so can anyone recomend which DVD-R are the best. Are certain discs more compatible with certain drives?
I recommend using DVD+Rs instead of DVD-Rs if possible. Don't believe the hype about better player compatibility with -Rs. The DVD+Rs burn better and more reliably and are cheaper too.
You made a great choice with that drive, in my opinion its the best out there. I'll give you my opinion, which is that of course Taiyo Yudens work great on this drive. The 8x +r burn are compatable at 16x, and the 8x -r at 12x. The TDK 8x -r disks id'd as TTG02 also work great. Instead of waiting for the opinions other people on this forum who seem to like alot of crap media like memorex, fujifilm, and other crap, I'd suggest going to the nec website here: http://support.necsam.com/oem/cd-rom/nd3500a/ Go to the media list, which, though it's aimed at the 3500, should still be very reliable for your drive.
I've got an NEC 2510 with the 2.F8 firmware and it will burn nearly any media I throw at it. I tend to use good media for stuff that is important, but I use cheap media for backing up my kids movies. They are very hard on them, so when they ruin one copy I just pull out the original and burn another.
